LPS costs could reach $409 million

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By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star

Updating Lincoln’s public schools and making sure there is enough space for all the students expected to enroll over the next decade will cost nearly $409 million, according to an LPS task force committee.

The estimated price tag is based on recommendations by the housing task force, including at least four new elementary schools, two new middle schools, major renovations to Lincoln’s four older high schools, indoor air quality improvements and additions to numerous existing schools.

The task force has spent the past six months evaluating the district’s building needs for the next 10 years.

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Elementary, middle and high school committees each offered their own recommendations.

On Tuesday, the finance committee issued its report to the full task force, putting a dollar figure to those recommendations: $162.6 million for elementary schools, $131 million for middle schools and $115.3 million for high schools.

The group also explored ways the school board could pay for them using money now available for building projects and asking voters to approve a bond issue.

And the good news, according to the committee: $316.4 million of the task force recommendations could be accomplished without raising the district’s current $1.31 tax levy.

That would involve a $250 million bond issue and the use of $64.6 million currently available for building projects.

Each additional penny to the levy would add an estimated $22 million to the bond issue, the committee said.

Finance committee members were pleased with what the calculations showed: that implementing the recommendations is financially doable for the community.

“I think the numbers are sound,’’ said Alice Dittman, who owns Cornhusker Bank and is a member of the task force’s finance committee. “I think there ought to be some applause over the numbers.’’

Kathy Campbell, co-chairman of the task force, agreed.

“The community can do this kind of challenge,’’ she said. “To be that close is kind of phenomenal.’’

To pay for $250 million in bonds without raising the levy would involve shifting an existing 10.8-cent levy now used to generate money for indoor air quality improvements to bond repayment.

Those air quality improvements  would be paid for through bond money as part of the task force recommendations.

Dennis Van Horn, LPS associate superintendent for business affairs,  cautioned that the estimates are based on current valuations and construction costs.

“Holding the levy flat does not say taxes will not increase,’’ he said. If property valuations rise, so would taxes.

The existing $64.6 million available for building projects comes from three sources:

* $29.5 million in the building fund for indoor air quality improvements.

* $24.4 million in bond money for additional building improvements recently approved by the board.

* $10.7 million set aside for high school renovations.

The taxing authority being considered for the task force recommendations is outside the general fund levy, which is subject to a state-imposed lid. It includes:

* The 10.8-cent levy used for indoor air quality improvements, which falls outside the lid because the projects are part of a plan created before the state passed the lid law.

* A 5.2-cent levy used to pay for $30 million in bonds recently approved by the school board. State laws allow the board to approve bonds, without voter approval, for certain improvements such as mold prevention and abatement, hazardous material removal and  codes and American Disabilities Act updates. Of that total bond issue, $24.4 million could be used to pay for certain task force recommendations.

* An 8-cent levy used to pay down the existing bond indebtedness.

Voters last approved a $100 million bond issue in October 1999 to build North Star and Southwest high schools.  The district ended up issuing only $90 million of those bonds.

In 1992, voters approved $54.5 million in bonds to build four elementary and two middle schools. The board didn’t use $3.5 million of that and used it to reduce the bond debt.

In the past 10 years, according to LPS officials, the district has completed $300 million in renovation and new construction.

Van Horn said that shows the cyclical nature of school building upkeep and expansion.

After a week of community meetings designed to get public opinion, the task force will finalize its recommendations and present them to the superintendent and school board.

Task force members did not prioritize their recommendations, nor did they recommend a particular funding option.

But task force members have said they hope the school board and superintendent will take the information from the task force — and other studies done on building needs — and craft a comprehensive plan for the next 10 years.

Part of the picture, the task force says, is using recommendations on transfer and school district boundaries to help equalize attendance at all schools.

“We build what we need and use what we have,’’ Campbell said.

“And that’s critical.’’

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.